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Posted December 6, 2017 10:31 pm - Updated December 7, 2017 08:50 am

Letters to the editor Thursday

President Trump should be removed now, and how

I’m a liberal. I admit that so the reader will know up front where I’m coming from. President Bill Clinton called himself a liberal yet he was impeached for having sex with an intern and lying about it.

He should have stepped down as President Nixon did. The Senate should have convicted him. It didn’t.

I’m a Vietnam War veteran and I was stunned when candidate Trump came to my attention implying that John McCain was a coward. Things worsened. As president, Donald Trump has lied, insulted, threatened and otherwise proven himself mentally and morally unfit to hold that office. He has placed Americans at risk by his deranged behavior. Trump should resign but of course he won’t. The House should seek to impeach him but that’s not likely. That leaves it up to American citizens, liberal and conservative, to insist upon Trump’s removal anyway we can…and how… and now.

LOUISE NORDBYE

Savannah

Find a place for parents in early childhood education plans

We applaud the community’s thinking about earlier and earlier child development as represented by the recent proposal to create a city/public school district partnership for an education center for younger preschoolers.

I was invited by Superintendent Ann Levett to observe the pilot for this child-centric program last year and was impressed.

However, we still cannot forget that the first and most critical development stage in life is in the period from birth to 3 years old (including prenatal) when the vast majority of brain development occurs, which in large part can predict knowledge acquisition for one’s life.

We do not argue against the development of the education center. We simply ask equal consideration of support for the parent-centric model, Early Learning College (ELC), provided by Parent University and Savannah Early Childhood Foundation. Operating the ELC strategy also has the advantage of costing a fraction of the investment ($500,000 vs. $7.2 million).

After studying child-centric child development models all over the U.S., a pattern emerges. Communities find it difficult to engage children until they are old enough to engage the community resource, at about age 3 or 4. This misses the critical stage of development from birth to 3 years old.

ELC is a parent-centric model aimed at parent training for that critical stage of life. Not only does it provide training on how to create safe, nurturing, language rich environments for child development, it changes the lives and thinking of the parents. Parents gain a better understanding of their role in early child development and are better prepared themselves to partner with other community resources (schools) for the further education of their child.

We don’t advocate that ELC or Parent University replace child-centric models. We suggest that ELC and Parent U marry well with them. We bring the parent into the picture of child development and education in a much larger and more effective way.

Our observations conclude that communities find it too daunting to consider a parent-centric model. “It can’t be done,” is a common response. We have yet to find anybody in the nation doing what Savannah is doing. We have forged through the “too daunting” mind set to find a way to do it.

By the way, a true believer has just pledged $150,000 a year for three years in a matching grant program to fund expansion of this endeavor. If you want to be a part of this experience contact us at paul@savannahecf.org.

PAUL FISHER

Board member

Savannah Early Childhood Foundation

Savannah

Conservatives unwelcome at local discussion groups

I used to attend the foreign and domestic affairs discussion groups at the Learning Center and was surprised to hear they had been discontinued. Some probably think that I suggested their demise, but I did not. (I think I answered that the groups were one-sided when I was asked why I no longer attended.)

Actually, I could not care less whether the groups continue. I can certainly understand why some people left the groups, since they were definitely not made to feel comfortable if they shared a right-of-center viewpoint.

Even the leaders made no secret of their dislike of anything conservative. It was definitely not “a free-wheeling, evidence-based setting” in my opinion.

VIC CARPENTER

Savannah

Social Security is not an entitlement

In the 1960s, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative robbed the Social Security trust fund of hundreds of billions of dollars that were supposed to be held in trust for the people who contributed to Social Security.

Johnson and the Democratic Congress created true entitlement programs and started giving away welfare payments from the Social Security trust fund to people who never contributed into the Social Security system.

Congress should not cut Social Security benefits for those who have contributed to the Social Security system.

Congress needs to return Social Security to being a self-sufficient retirement system.

This can be done with two steps.

First, Congress needs to increase Social Security contributions by making Social Security contributions mandatory for everyone who has income.

Right now, some major employers and governmental entities do not contribute to social security. For example, teachers in Bulloch County do not pay into Social Security and neither do railroad workers.

By closing these loopholes, Social Security would have a lot more money flowing into the system.

Second, Congress needs to remove all welfare payments and entitlement programs from being funded by Social Security contributions.

Every welfare or entitlement program needs to be funded with collections from the general income tax system.

If the general income tax system cannot sustain these welfare or entitlement programs, then the programs should be reduced, cut out altogether, or taxes will have to be raised to pay for them.

There is no free lunch, everything costs something, and everyone needs to be willing to pay their fair share for the privilege of living in the greatest country on earth.

The citizens who worked for 30-40 years and contributed into Social Security should not be punished because Congress seems to not understand the difference between getting payments from your retirement system that you contributed to and getting welfare.